Mental health is a hot topic in today’s society, and it’s something that many people struggle with daily. There are so many factors that contribute to mental illness, but there are also ways that we can maintain our mental health. One way is by watching movies! In this article, we will discuss 8 mental health movies that you should watch for therapeutic purposes.
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What Are Mental Health Movies?
Mental health movies are any movies that deal with mental illness in some way. They can be documentaries, dramas, comedies, or anything in between. Some of them may be based on true stories, while others may be fictional tales.
Why Watch Mental Health Movies?
Watching movies about mental illness can be good. Characters in the movie will tell you what is happening to them. It can be helpful. It’s also a great way to learn about different disorders that people have and begin your journey of understanding them better.
Mental Health Movies To Watch
In this article, we will discuss some of the best mental health movies of all time. They range from true stories based on real events to fictional tales of love and adventure! We hope you enjoy watching these films as much as we did!
Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
Life isn’t going well for Pat Solitano, who is clinically depressed and in the early stage of ALS. Lacking a sense of purpose, he watches planes and trains go by. He has a lot of thoughts about the Philadelphia Eagles. When he talks to his wife, he imagines they are together again. Pat’s days are spent in-between the lines of others’ lives. When he meets Tiffiny Maxwell, his life suddenly changes because she is also trying to get through life after an attack. Tiffany’s mother tells her not to let Pat into their home for Thanksgiving dinner. But Tiffany does anyway, and she starts to like him. They might be able to help each other.
Silver Linings Playbook is a 2012 romantic comedy-drama film by David O. Russell. It had a lot of good things in it, but I can’t tell you more because it’s for grown-ups. It stars Bradley Cooper (Pat Solitano), Jennifer Lawrence (Tiffany Maxwell), and Robert De Niro (Pat’s father).
RATING: 8.5/10.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
Randle Patrick McMurphy is sent to an institution for the mentally unstable. The nurse started to get mad at him and he got medicine that made him feel bad. The nurse put him in a room and gave him medicine that made his brain hurt. However, McMurphy continues to rebel against Nurse Ratched and always gets back at her by pulling a prank. It was a war against a power struggle, and McMurphy won by breaking her spirit. The people in the institution felt better about themselves, but it didn’t last long.
RATING: 8.5/10.
Mary Poppins (1964)
Mary Poppins is hired as a nanny to two children. The father leaves the kids under Mary Poppins’ care while he is out of town for business. The Banks family is having problems with their children not listening to them and being too spoiled by their mother. When Mary Poppins comes into the lives of the family, things finally change.
RATING: 9/10.
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Andy Dufresne is accused of murdering his wife and her lover, even though he didn’t do it. He is sentenced to life imprisonment at the Shawshank prison in Maine. Once there, a man named Red befriends him. They find out that an old man named Tommy is needed to be protected by the gang. The leader, Bogs, is planning to rape him. Andy jumps in and saves him, but he ends up getting his ribs broken. Meanwhile, Andy is making all sorts of friends with everyone at Shawshank (and he makes them do stuff).
RATING: 9/10.
The Green Mile – 1999
The Green Mile is a prison drama film. At Cold Mountain Penitentiary, a man named John Coffey is put on death row for the murder of two girls. The guards adore him, but they are suspicious of his power to heal people. When a new guard arrives at Shawshank, he has to go in for a meeting with the warden about an incident involving John Coffey. He tells him what exactly happened, but his story seems too far-fetched to be true…
RATING: 9/10.
Raiders of the Lost Ark – 1981
Indiana Jones is a professor who has been assigned by the U.S government to find an ancient relic in Egypt. While he is trying to find the lost city of Tanis, he meets a girl named Marion and they start to like each other. They get separated and Indy finds himself running through the streets dodging bad guys. He finds the Ark of the Covenant and he tries to escape. His partner gets killed by Nazis because of the Ark. Indy escapes with Marion and is still fighting the bad guys.
RATING: 9.5/10.
The Hunger Games (2012)
Katniss Everdeen lives in a society where people fight with each other. They give the person they are fighting a bag of food, and the person who gets the most bags of food is the winner. The event is televised nationally, and the rich people throw a party while dozens of people die. It stars Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen and Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark.
Katniss volunteers to be in The Hunger Games instead of her sister Primrose after she saw how much pain her family was going through. After a few spots opened up, she ended up getting in for sure. When the Games start, Peeta makes an alliance with her and they have to fight their way through different obstacles.
RATING: 9.5/10.
Gone Girl (2014)
Amy Dunne goes missing on her wedding anniversary and all evidence points to her husband, Nick. The media jumps on the story and soon it spirals out of control. Just when everyone thinks that Nick is guilty, his lawyer learns about something in Missouri that may change everything…
RATING: 9/10.
The Shining (1980)
Jack Torrance gets a job as a caretaker for an old hotel in the mountains of Colorado. He brings his wife, Wendy, and his son Danny with him. Danny is a boy who can see ghosts. One day, Jack starts seeing ghosts of people who died in the hotel. When he goes crazy because of it, Wendy and Danny have to escape from this haunted hotel before he kills them.
RATING: 9/10.
Blood Diamond (2006)
Danny Archer is a man who is turned into the police for smuggling diamonds out of Sierra Leone. This man escapes and then he meets someone that has just found his family’s most precious diamond. The diamond is called the “blood diamond” because it is worth so much money. They find themselves stuck in the middle of the warring in Sierra Leone.
RATING: 8/10.
The Conjuring (2013)
Alice and Roger move into an old farmhouse with their five daughters. They soon hear from a possessed doll that a witch used to live in the house. The girls try everything they can to get rid of it, but none of their attempts work. Suddenly, something evil is roaming around the farmhouse and it is scaring all the daughters.
RATING: 9/10.
The Godfather (1972)
Don Vito Corleone is the head of a powerful crime family. He has three sons, Sonny, Fredo, and Michael. When Don Corleon gets shot and goes into a coma, his son Michael steps up and kills everyone who tried to hurt his father. After Michael leaves, his older brother Sonny becomes the head of the family. As time goes on, Fredo starts to fear that he will be killed because he is constantly put down by everyone else.
RATING: 9/10.
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Jules Winnfield and Vincent Vega are two hitmen who are told by their boss to kill a man named Brett. They decide that they want to take the man out themselves, but when they get there they are stuck with a problem. Their boss, Marsellus Wallace tells them that if they don’t kill the man then he will kill them himself. The two try to find a way out of this as everything comes down on their shoulders…
RATING: 9/10.
The Dark Knight (2008)
Bruce Wayne becomes Batman and Harvey Dent becomes the District Attorney. They are trying to take down the mob in Gotham City when they find themselves up against The Joker. He wants all of them dead, and he doesn’t want money to do it.
RATING: 9/10.
The Departed (2006)
Frank Costello is a crime lord in Boston who has an informant in the state police. In order to find out who this person is, they have to send another man named Colin Sullivan. Just when Frank thinks it’s going to be fine, everything goes up in smoke and he realizes he has a rat in his organization.
RATING: 9/10.
Benefits Of Watching Mental Health Movies
Mental health movies can help you maintain your mental health.
- Watching movies about mental illness can help you understand and cope with your own life.
- It can also help you feel less alone and more connected to the world.
- Mental health movies can be a form of self-care.
- They can help you understand yourself better, and they can be a way to reflect on your own life.
- Movies about mental health can also show you that there is hope.
- No matter how bad things seem, there is always a chance for things to get better.
- Watching mental health movies can also give you some ideas for coping mechanisms.
- These movies can help people understand what it is like to live with these illnesses.
- They may also help reduce the stigma around them.
Limitations Of Watching Mental Health Movies
- They can be quite triggering.
- Some people may not want to watch them because they don’t like the way it makes them feel.
- These movies are also dramatized, so it isn’t always entirely reliable information.
- It is important to remember that these movies aren’t documentaries and the facts might not be completely accurate in all cases.
- Remember that these movies don’t tell the whole story and they may not be comprehensive in certain situations.
- It can also be difficult for people with mental illnesses to find a movie that accurately represents their experience.
- Remembering this, it is good to watch them with someone who understands what your experiences are like.
Conclusion
Mental health movies are a great way to learn about mental illness and educate yourself on how you can help those who suffer from it. We want to show you some movies about important issues. We hope that you will be able to feel empathy for people who have mental health conditions. These stories may make you feel sad but they also speak volumes about what is possible when people care enough to take action.
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